A.1. Sauce, HP Sauce, brown sauce, steak sauce: It's a culture shock extravaganza. Fear not, though — here's everything you need to know about Britain's saucy side.
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00:00A1 sauce, HP sauce, brown sauce, steak sauce. It's a culture shock extravaganza. Fear not,
00:07though. Here's everything you need to know about Britain's saucy side.
00:11It doesn't matter if you like it rare, medium, or well done. If you've ever enjoyed a nice,
00:16thick steak, chances are you've also enjoyed a drizzle of A1 sauce on top.
00:21This popular condiment is found on the tables of steakhouses across the United States. It
00:25enjoys a long history, too, having been invented all the way back in the 1800s.
00:29"'Cause A1 has the taste that makes every bite count."
00:34Similar in taste and texture to Worcestershire sauce, the original flavor of A1 sauce is
00:39made up of ingredients such as tomato puree, raisin paste, dried garlic, and onions. It
00:44pairs well with everything from steak to burgers to chicken.
00:48Despite how beloved A1 steak sauce is in the U.S., it's hard to come by across the pond.
00:53Why isn't the condiment sold in U.K. grocery stores? And why isn't it as abundant as it
00:58is here in America? Well, the truth behind the lack of A1 sauce in the U.K. has less
01:03to do with the condiment itself and more to do with its many competitors.
01:07Here in the U.S., when you think of steak sauce, you likely only think of A1.
01:11But that isn't the case in the United Kingdom, where there's a large variety of steak sauces
01:17to choose from. One of the most popular is HP sauce, which accounts for some 71 percent
01:22of the U.K.'s brown sauce market.
01:24"...everything's okay with HP."
01:26Surprisingly, however, A1 sauce was actually invented in Great Britain in 1862 by the co-manager
01:32of cuisine at Hyde Park's International Exhibition. In the 1970s, the tangy condiment was pushed
01:37out of the majority of U.K. supermarkets thanks to increasing competition. There simply was
01:42no more room for A1 to compete in the British food space. Even so, if you find yourself
01:48on those sceptered aisles and are craving a dash of American steak sauce, you can still
01:52snag A1 at Tesco Online.
01:55So what is HP sauce, and how different is it from the product it pushed out of the U.K.?
01:59HP is actually similar to A1 in a few small ways. While both sauces have a similar ingredients
02:06list including tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar, HP has the addition of tamarind, while A1
02:11has crushed orange puree.
02:13Tamarind is a tropical African plant that has applications in both sweet and savory
02:18dishes. In a sense, it replaces the orange-citrus flavor that the American A1 features.
02:23And while HP sauce is a brown sauce, not all brown sauce is HP. Now, you might be wondering
02:29what brown sauce actually is. Is it pretty much just a fancy U.K. term for steak sauce?
02:35Or is it a whole other condiment?
02:38Maybe it's something Americans can't quite understand. Or at least that's what Cosmopolitan
02:43The publication describes brown sauce as being made of tomatoes, molasses, spices, and vinegar
02:48that tastes a little sweet and a little tart. If anything, Cosmopolitan admits that brown
02:53sauce isn't too dissimilar to what Americans call steak sauce. It could actually be considered
02:58a more modern take on ketchup, being sweeter and tarter than your usual bottle of Heinz.
03:03Of course, if you can't get your hands on A1, and you'd rather steer clear of HP sauce,
03:07you could easily make your own brown sauce at home.
03:10A British chef's recipe for brown sauce consists mainly of tomatoes, molasses, onion, chili,
03:16cloves, ginger, fennel seeds, apricots, and Worcestershire sauce. These ingredients are
03:21combined and simmered, adding vinegar throughout until the mixture is reduced to a thick sauce-like
03:26consistency. From there, the sauce can be blended together and strained through a sieve
03:30before being served or stored.
03:32With this recipe, you can experiment by adding or removing whatever ingredients you wish
03:37to get your preferred taste. Who knows? Maybe you'll make the next A1 steak sauce.